Asked nearly 48 hours after his team’s worst home loss of the season, first-year LSU football coach Lane Kiffin said he hadn’t envisioned a 6-3 overall record and a 3-3 SEC mark that has the Tigers tied for eighth in the conference.
“I don’t know numbers exactly,” Kiffin said during Monday’s weekly news conference. “I don’t think I thought that. There are some variables that are out of your controls with injuries. I’m not making any excuses. There will be some years you’ll have more and some years you’ll have less.
“We got hit pretty early with some severe ones that were long term, not just one week,” Kiffin said. “We’ve had chances to finish out games. Obviously, the Kentucky (35-34 loss in overtime) game. … Ole Miss game (a 32-24 loss) going down to score.”
LSU took a 13-10 lead on Dilin Jones’ 5-yard touchdown run with 2:44 left in the third quarter. That was at the end of an 11-play, 90-yard drive that took 5½ minutes off the clock.
Alabama moved much quicker, regained the lead near the end of the quarter and took control of the game with a 21-0 run over the next nine minutes for a 31-13 victory at Tiger Stadium.
“We blow a coverage on the next play which leads to an explosive play,” Kiffin said of Keelon Russell’s 57-yard completion to Rico Scott. The play set up a four-play drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Ford.
“We screw on up on a rush on a third-and-nine (Russell gained 10 yards) I think that’s going to force the field goal. The games we needed to finish right there we’ve gone 0-for-3 in those games. The rest of them have been pretty easy as far as late in the game.”
Conditioning players’ minds
No. 24 LSU (6-3, 3-3 SEC) heads into its final home game Saturday with only a remote chance of reaching the College Football Playoff. The Tigers host No. 8 Texas (7-2, 4-2) at 6:30 p.m. at Tiger Stadium, marking the Longhorns’ first visit in 73 years.
“I spent time with them today,” Kiffin said of his players. “You can’t listen to the noise and one of the hardest things to do is letting go of the previous outcome. That’s hard both ways. You have to let go of the good, too. Here it comes. This is going to be everything we do is wrong noise. We lost to Alabama, especially the final score. Now, ‘They’re not playing enough, or they should be throwing you the ball more’. This is what happens when you lose.
“The (sideline) basketball hoop is stupid, and we shouldn’t have a little kid (Kiffin’s nephew) on the smoke machine,” Kiffin said. “I know all of that comes when you lose, and when you win it’s all cool. That’s just part of it. Just to make sure they know not to listen to that. The loss in Tiger Stadium. … That’s bad and I feel bad for our fans, the stands. We’re supposed to win. We’re certainly not supposed to score 13 points in a game ever.”
Breakdowns lead to lopsided score
LSU outgained Alabama 457-285 but had only itself to blame when trips to the red zone weren’t as fruitful as they could have been.
The Tigers ended their first four drives inside the Alabama 40-yard line in the first half but only had a field goal to show for it. The Tigers also missed a field goal and turned the ball over on downs. On fourth-and-4, quarterback Sam Leavitt targeted Trey’Dez Green, but an Alabama defender broke up the pass at the Tide’s 3-yard line with 3:31 left before halftime.
He was also intercepted by Luke Metz at Alabama’s 24 with 28 seconds to go before halftime.
“They did a really good job,” Kiffin said of Alabama’s defense. “They had a bye week just like we did. They really utilized that to do some very different things on defense, especially as we got to the red zone. We had great success prior to the red zone from a yardage standpoint.
“They went a very aggressive model,” Kiffin said. “If you don’t make them pay, which we didn’t and they hit things at the right time (Bama knocked down two of Leavitt’s pass attempts on blitzes), it can be really successful and they were. They’ve got coaches, too.”
Alabama extended its lead in the fourth quarter with consecutive scoring drives totaling 43 yards on just four plays. The second score gave the Crimson Tide its final margin with 6:23 remaining.
Leavitt passed for 278 of his 380 yards in the second half. He completed 35 of 47 passes, with Jackson Harris leading the team with 11 catches for 166 yards.
“Our kids are excited,” Kiffin said of the Texas game. “Just staying within what you do each day. How can you practice whether you’re on the service team or whether you’re a starter? How can you be ready? We had a player go in in a critical play and did not do the right thing.
“We tell them all offseason that you may be in for only one play and that play may not seem like a big deal like the 30 when you’re in,” Kiffin said. “I used to say that if you don’t go block the right guy and lose to Alabama, you’re going to feel really different about it. Unfortunately, like a lot of us, it has to happen before we listen to really listen why and why they’re important.”
